Sanctuary
by musicmillennia
Summary: AU in which Arcadia Movement has taken over Neo Domino. Aki, a twisted blank slate, Manifests her dragon to take out the last home of Satellite. She is met with surprising resistance. (Details on why Manifest is capitalized are provided in opening paragraphs.)


**This fic is purely to get my feet wet. I hope you like the twist on the whole monster summoning thing I came up with—obviously it was inspired by season 5 of the original series.**

Manifestation.

It's a word every child learns, perhaps even before they know what words are. There's a feeling behind the letters, both universal at its very core and impossible to ignore once realized. Whether people want to or not, their souls decide for them.

The Egyptians used them for deadly games; an American turned them into colors on paper; today, it's next to impossible not to find someone who doesn't hold a deck. They say it's instinct, the moment you hold the embodiment of your soul in your hand. Those whose souls don't have cards are required to submit them. They're tested, and the powers that be decide what kind of strength their monster has.

(Aki remembers her parents forbidding her taking any such tests. Their efforts were in vain, of course-Black Rose Dragon came to her anyway, along with the destruction she wrought.)

In the end, that's what sets the psychics from the rest. Most people channel themselves into their special cards; overtime, they lose the strength to Manifest outside of a hologram, as if they can enslave their very souls. Psychics don't hold back. Whether her card is there or not, Aki can wrap herself in thorns as easily as a flick of her wrist. She can do the same with the rest of her cards in a duel, and so people jump to the conclusion that she can steal and maim their hearts without batting an eye.

With this fear, and Divine's cunning, Aki didn't know the magnitude of her actions until it was too late.

The wasteland before her creates an impact no thin mask can stop. What was once a thriving city is now a junkyard of scrap metal and corpses. Aki can't even remember if she'd been responsible for any of the dead, and maybe that's the worst part—no. The worst part is the other psychics have been tortured and twisted by Divine to the point that they enjoy running the last remaining innocents to the ground.

Or, perhaps, the worst part is that Aki can't bring herself to care anymore.

Whatever it is, there's no way she can fix it. She can't stop Divine ordering his minions to go after children, just like she can't stop her own feet taking her to the last vestiges of hope for Satellite's people. There's something funny, she thinks: Satellite was a decayed ruin even before the Arcadia Movement unfurled its banners, and so it can still be what it once was.

"Izayoi!" a comrade calls, "We'll take the west! Give 'em hell!"

As if they're not already there.

Aki keeps going.

Black Rose Dragon, at least, has morphed with her. She always answers Aki's call, no matter what the purpose, and that doesn't change now, when said purpose is the capture and eventual death of infants. Aki lets her mind go blank with the sweet pull of her Manifestation.

As Black Rose roars, Aki hears the sound of small footsteps and cries. She's close.

Ah. There it is: a stable house among rubble, something out of a peaceful suburb than something like Satellite. Dimly, Aki finds this interesting.

She raises her hand before all of the children and their matronly caretaker can fully retreat inside.

It almost feels like someone else's lips are moving. "Kill them all."

Black Rose rears her beautiful head. The children weep.

Their caretaker stands valiantly before them, back straight. "Maternal Junk, in Attack Mode!" she cries, and her soul Manifests.

The creature is so tiny and pathetic, something in Aki laughs in response.

"Black Rose Gale!"

The wind picks up in a familiar rush.

"Stand strong!" the caretaker tells her monster. Maternal Junk nods to her, raising her pitiful spatula before the children.

"Fool," Aki seethes through her mask, "Black Rose Gale destroys all monsters in its path—including your souls!"

Black Rose's thorns weep blood, despite not having taken a victim yet. Her gale reaches its peak.

Soon it'll all be over. Divine will have no one left in Neo Domino to kill. Then maybe he will—

" _Victim's Sanctuary_!"

Aki starts violently. "What?"

Her voice is drowned by a new, more powerful roar.

And then, all at once, the world is encompassed with the light of a thousand stars.

In its wake is a dragon of white and blue. They're unlike any monster Aki's ever seen before, with a head shaped like a blade and an almost human physique. They soar straight for the eye of Black Rose's storm without hesitation or a hint of fear.

Below them, now standing between Satellite's last home and the Arcadia Movement, is their retainer: a man who looks no older than herself, with eyes that hold both youthful determination and a seasoned soldier's resolve. A white luminous aura enflames his entire body, from the toes of his worn boots to the tips of his unkempt hair, the surest sign of his being the Manifester opposing Black Rose Dragon.

"When a monster's ability would destroy everything on the field," he continues, "Stardust Dragon can sacrifice xemself to stop the attack!"

Just as he says, his so-called Stardust Dragon wraps all of xir limbs around Black Rose Dragon in an unwavering grip. Black Rose's thorns slice xir hide, a knife through raw meat, to no avail.

Xir retainer screams as xe disperses into a pool of speckled white light; no doubt he feels the pain of every scar and rendering in the sacrifice. Still he and his dragon persist, and to Aki's amazement, Black Rose Gale is swept away.

The man staggers, shoulders heaving. "Yusei!" the caretaker cries.

Yusei, hm?

Aki screams too. Her mouth says, "My power far outmatches yours. I can do it again just as easily. Black Rose Gale!"

Once more, the wind bends.

Yet this 'Yusei' gently pushes Maternal Junk and her retainer away. "When xe uses xir ability, Stardust can resurrect," he pants.

His nose and ears spurt blood, but Stardust wrenches from his soul.

It's there that Aki. Hesitates.

Although xir eyes don't change, the worry with which Stardust looks at Yusei is unmistakable. Still, when Yusei tells xem to protect the children, even if another shot might kill them both, xe spreads xir wings and reopens xir wounds.

Without exchanging another word, Aki knows that Yusei will provide sanctuary again and again. Even with a vessel gone, a monster will survive; his final wish will be for Stardust Dragon to—to do what Aki couldn't: to save, to defend. To oppose the poison that the Arcadia Movement has become.

Aki shudders. Stardust erupts; stray drops of their blood splatter onto her mask.

Yusei instinctively puts a hand over his heart, a feeble attempt to protect his battered soul. Yet the steel in his eyes remains, as does Aki's prediction.

"Give it all to me!" he yells, "I'll take it! You won't pass here!"

Through the dark pool of Aki's mind, a small voice pierces through: _Stop. Please stop._

She can't tell if it's the self she lost to Divine, or Black Rose Dragon. Maybe it's both.

Either way, she turns her back. "Another time, _Yusei_."

 **Dunno if I'm gonna continue this, tbh. But I like this Manifest idea, so I may do something else with it. Let me know what you think!**


End file.
